Page 133 - the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer

her wont, in her good-night to Sid and Mary. Sid snuffled a
bit and Mary went off crying with all her heart.
Aunt Polly knelt down and prayed for Tom so touchingly,
so appealingly, and with such measureless love in her words
and her old trembling voice, that he was weltering in tears
again, long before she was through.
He had to keep still long after she went to bed, for she
kept making broken-hearted ejaculations from time to time,
tossing unrestfully, and turning over. But at last she was
still, only moaning a little in her sleep. Now the boy stole
out, rose gradually by the bedside, shaded the candle-light
with his hand, and stood regarding her. His heart was full
of pity for her. He took out his sycamore scroll and placed it
by the candle. But something occurred to him, and he lin-
gered considering. His face lighted with a happy solution of
his thought; he put the bark hastily in his pocket. Then he
bent over and kissed the faded lips, and straightway made
his stealthy exit, latching the door behind him.
He threaded his way back to the ferry landing, found
nobody at large there, and walked boldly on board the
boat, for he knew she was tenantless except that there was
a watchman, who always turned in and slept like a graven
image. He untied the skiff at the stern, slipped into it, and
was soon rowing cautiously upstream. When he had pulled
a mile above the village, he started quartering across and
bent himself stoutly to his work. He hit the landing on the
other side neatly, for this was a familiar bit of work to him.
He was moved to capture the skiff, arguing that it might be
considered a ship and therefore legitimate prey for a pirate,

1 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer